Page 56 - South Mississippi Living - July, 2026

GULF
Ingalls Welders
story by Lynn Lofton photos courtesy of National Parks Service, National Museum
of the Tukegee Airmen, Keesler Airforce Base and the Naval Construction Battalion Center
South Mississippi is the proud home of several military institutions providing defense, training, security, community service, and local employment.
The largest facility is Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi. The base is named in honor of aviator 2d Lt. Samuel Reeves Keesler, Jr., a Mississippi native killed in France during the First World War. The base is home of Headquarters of the Second Air Force
and the 81st Training Wing of the Air Education and Training Command. It is also the command post of the famous Hurricane Hunters whose missions are flown from Keesler.
The base has specialized in ground trade training since its opening in 1941 during World War II. It has had high-quality technical schools and absorbed units moved from other bases under the Base Realignment and Closure Act. Congress initially appropriated $6 million for construction at Biloxi and an additional $2 million for equipment. By the time funds were allocated in April 1941, the projected cost had risen to $9.6 million. On June 14, 1941, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded contracts totaling $10 million to build Biloxi’s technical training school. At the time, it was the most expensive government project to have been undertaken in Mississippi.
The Tuskegee Airmen were trained at Keesler. More than 7,000 African American soldiers were stationed at Keesler Field by the autumn of 1943. These soldiers included pre-aviation cadets, radio operators, aviation technicians, bombardiers, and aviation
56 | July 2026
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Tuskegee Airmen